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Sub placement.

73jbass

73jbass

Supporting Member
Apr 17, 2004
6,045
1,105
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Ellenwood,Ga.
#1
Read quite a few threads on the recently,and learning a lot. Tomorrow I play in a big room that has a 4ft high stage and a stairway about 8 feet wide centerstage from the dance floor to the stage. Would it be better to place the subs on either side of the stairs where it meets the stage,or spread them out like I normally do? If so,what do I gain?
 
#3
Grouped to one side of the stairs would be my choice. Bass being essentially omni directional makes placement somewhat less critical. Side by side avoids the potential combing issues. Crummy cell phone photo show me living the dream.. Err setting up for halloween show with house subs grouped center left.
 

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#5
+1 on that.

Hopefully your crossover has a delay for the sub channel. If it does, for every foot in front of the top speakers the subs are set, you give the subs 1 millisecond of delay. That way they stay "in time" with the top speakers.
 
#6
Hi,

For what its worth:

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http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/vi...php?f=10&t=398

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Basically, to avoid comb filtering put your subs all together. But I've been on plenty of gigs where they were split to either side of the stage and nobody died. Sometimes you can do what's best and sometimes you have to do what works.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
#8
How wide is the stage and room and is there anywhere to the sides with good boundary loading possibilities? Also, how many cabs?

The advantage of a single centre grouping is a thumping dancefloor with less overall thump required, thus a more natural mix further back for the "listeners".

Subs either side under tops is frequently the worst possible place for them. Unless your stacks are 60ft apart, and far from walls, you get boom/fade combing and dropout from walls.
 
#9
73jbass said:
Read quite a few threads on the recently,and learning a lot. Tomorrow I play in a big room that has a 4ft high stage and a stairway about 8 feet wide centerstage from the dance floor to the stage. Would it be better to place the subs on either side of the stairs where it meets the stage,or spread them out like I normally do? If so,what do I gain?
Click to expand...

I'd group the subs to one side of the stairwell. I have the same situation coming up a week from Sunday. We disguise them with potted poinsettias. As I understand it, the gain comes from keeping them clustered & centered which minimizes peaks and troughs.

Riis
 
#10
Whatever you do, don't put them both sides of the stairs, 10ft apart creates massive frequency lobing. Difference in distance from each sub stack to any particular listener ( outside of the equidistant central hot zone) adds up to alternating cancellation and reinforcement across the sub range.
 
#11
ehh, it's not ideal, but it would probably still be OK to put them on either side of the stairs. half the time in bars and stuff the room gain and reflections end up swamping the bass "lobes" anyway, to where it's not so noticeable unless you carefully walk across in front of the stage looking for them.
 

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